Rahul Dravid likely to miss India U-19 team's tour to England

What’s the story?

Former India captain Rahul Dravid, coach of both the U-19 and India A teams, is likely to miss the U-19 team’s tour to England this month. "We'll appoint a coach in place of Dravid for the India U-19 team," said a BCCI official to The Times of India.

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The India-A team is supposed to play four two-day games and a one-day tri-series involving South Africa and Australia. The latter might not participate in the tournament altogether owing to the ongoing pay dispute between the players and the officials in the country. Dravid decided to continue as the head coach of both the Indian junior men’s team on a twelve-month tenure, one that would prevent him from mentoring the Delhi Daredevils, a role he has been reprising for the past two years.

The heart of the matter

With his contract extended for eye-catching fees of Rs. 4.5 crores per annum, Dravid was supposed to accompany the India U-19 side for their tour to England, but won’t be able to do so because he’ll be travelling with the ‘A’ side on their tour to South Africa. He will, however, supervise the pre-tour camp for the U-19 team, beginning on July 4 in Bangalore. A conflict of interest issue, however, means that the camp will start without assistant coaches Paras Mhambrey and Abhay Sharma.

What’s next?

The India U-19 team’s tour begins on July 15, which will closely run along with the India-A team’s tour of South Africa that commences with their first fixture on July 26. Manish Pandey and Karun Nair will be captaining the two India-A sides.

Author’s take

While there isn’t a shade of doubt that Dravid is one of the most suited for the job in the country, it should also be realised that the role that he has agreed upon isn’t one of the easiest. By committing to coach both teams, Dravid is likely to get into a spot of bother when it comes to balancing the workload, as is the case this time. Although the BCCI has reaffirmed that a proper coaching staff will be travelling to England, the contract issues that the bowling and fielding coaches are embroiled in also shows that there is big confusion over the names that will accompany the team, less than ten days before the start of the tour.You can check the India-A team squads for the South Africa tour here: BCCI announces India A squad for tour of South Africa